Generation T

On its fourth year, Generation T again showcases 50 of the Philippines’ best and brightest. Shauna Jay Popple Williams and Jeanna Lanting get to know what makes the cogs turn for these five honourees.

Farmers can credit this chiselled, brawny looker for making farming sexy again. Prior to delving into modern-day husbandry, the agri-businessman was authoring country macroeconomic reports. Today, as the founder and president of LM10 Corporation, he is, as he words it, “working towards the Philippines becoming food self-sufficient.”

Farm by farm, his striving for the nation’s self-sufficiency has not been without its snags. “I lost all my savings in my first year trying to do corn mechanisation in Isabela province,” he admits. Now that’s a humble truth coming from a man whose favourite film is Forrest Gump.

Starting from scratch in a foreign country, the Argentine singlehandedly turned LM10’s companies (named for Lionel Messi and his jersey number), into a leader in the animal rendering industry, cattle genetics, and the commercial feeds market.

Per his rough estimate, 99 per cent of the country’s dairy is imported while beef is close to the 90 marker. “What we do here is focus on the beef cattle and dairy farms and work on improving the cattle genetics,” he explains.

While they have introduced to the Philippine market the concept of recycling animal waste, the even bigger news is that, any day now, LM10 is poised to export feeds to Thailand. “We are also one of four laboratories registered with the Bureau of Animal Industry, and are one of the only precision agriculture players in the country,” he shares. He is proudest, however, of having created the best agriculture laboratory the Philippines has seen.